Heart and Mind
by xXthenextbookwormXx
Summary: A vampire knows the heart and mind of it's prey while drinking their blood. This is what Zero sees that first time he bites Yuki. Yuki/Zero. Canon.


Hi folks! I'm so glad to get this up here finally, especially after having had it sit around my house for months. I really need to work on that... I'm very proud of myself, though. This is my longest fic to date, and it actually fits in the 'short one-shot' category! ^.^ Again, I have no plot such as it is, instead I am picking apart the finer points of relationships, such as I am wont to do. Oh, yeah, and using archaic language. Can't forget that. Anyhow, read, and please drop me a review telling me what you thought. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I wish I were awesome enough to come up with something as wonderful as Vampire Knight. As it is, I am stuck doing pitifully short fanficitons, and daydreaming. Darned lawyers...

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Heart and Mind

Zero could smell her. The little idiot! He had warned her away for a good reason! Stubborn Yuki seemed unable to stay away from the abhorrent creature he was. He had ordered her away so she wouldn't be hurt. Yuki, with her enticing scent had become harder and harder to resist as the days and weeks sore on, turned into months, and years. And here she came, running after him, just as he could feel the craving for blood, her blood in particular, rise in his throat.

Here she came, racing around the corner onto the landing. Zero wasn't going to be able to resist this time! Her blood was warm from having just ran, and her essence strong. At least he could let her not see what he was, telling her, "Don't look!" as he trapped her left wrist in his hand, and tilted her head to the side to let his fangs at her neck As she called his name,wondering what he was doing, he felt beastly instincts rise to the fore, take hold of his body as he licked the skin of her neck, hating himself, even as he wanted more. His fangs pressed down on her flesh, puncturing it, turning loose the flow of hot, red, delicate sweetness.

Any hearsay about vampires knowing the mind and heart of the being whose blood was being drunk would have been instantly recalled, had there been any attention in Zero's mind left for such things. He could feel what she felt, hear her thoughts, see her darkest secrets. Confusion, fear. 'What happened, Zero's a vampire! I've been bit!' Worry for himself, momentarily forgotten.

There was the peripherally known. Adoration for Kuran. Deep friendship, comradeship for himself, Zero. Kind patience for the headmaster. A friend's love for her roomate. A quiet sorrow for the sorrows of those around her, for how Zero was bitter, Kaname lonely, Headmaster Cross overcompensating for...something.

There were memories. Those she'd shared with others openly, like the various times she'd made an utter mess when trying to cook. Those she'd shared with only one or two people, like how she'd been found by Kuran, or when Zero had first come to her. Those she'd kept quiet, like times she'd thought in a more-than-best-friendly way of Zero himself.

There was the completely subconscious. A deep-seated grieving for the family she'd never known. An always optimistic, happy, loving personality, that she took for granted. A knowledge that there was a completely different side to Kuran, that she'd never seen outright, just flashed. An undercurrent, so hidden, and (in her eyes) unimaginable that it was nearly not there, but strong all the same. Love for her best friend, her foster-brother, her Zero. The Zero she had just found out was an abhorrent beast

But before shock could set in Yuki was pulling away, telling him no, and he was letting go, unable to deny her anything, and he didn't want to hurt her worse than he already had. Automatically wiping his face, Zero stared into her eyes, trying to see what he had seen in her blood in her large brown eyes, now wide with fear. There was something there. A complete sympathy for him, and unwillingness to hurt him, even though she felt she had, by pushing him away when he needed her kindness. This was nearly hidden by the shock of what she had just learned and the realization of what he had just done. Her love for Zero was so subconscious it was impossible to notice.

And then he realized what he had done. He had bit, he had hurt the girl he'd promised himself he would protect at all costs. As well, he had learned she was harbouring unknown feelings for him.

"I... I'm sorry..." he apologized, sorry for injuring her, and sorry that she loved such a repulsive creature. Before he had a chance to say more Kuran had arrived, begun telling Zero off, Yuki had pushed between them, passed out, and was carried off by Kuran, who, as a parting comment, had asked, "Was her blood so... delicious?"

Zero, who knew vampire lore, having grown up a hunter, realized suddenly that, surrounded as he was by people, hadn't felt the draw to any of them nearly as strong as Yuki's blood called for him. He stared at her lifeblood on his hands in shock. 'The only blood that can sate a vampire's thirst is that of the one they love most.' He loved Yuki. And she was coming to love him too.

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Review please! I wanna know your thoughts!


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